Outrage after real estate agent sends flowers to widow

A Melbourne widow has been left shocked and upset after a real estate agent sent her flowers for her husband’s passing, hours after cold calling to ask her to sell her home.

The woman’s daughter, who wants to remain anonymous, has told 9news.com.au the family did not know the agent, and her mother only spoke to the agent for a minute and a half.

She said her mother told the agent several times in the 90 second call she did not want to sell the house because her husband had recently died.

Several hours later, a large bouquet of white flowers arrived at the woman’s home in Melbourne’s north-west, accompanied with a note reading, “I’m sorry to hear about the passing of your husband”.

The woman’s daughter said the gesture had left her mother in shock and quite upset.

“It brought back a lot of memories of my father’s death and funeral,” she said.

The daughter said she personally felt conflicted about the gestures, but felt that the flowers were “a step too far”.

“Getting a card is one thing, but a bunch of flowers is usually reserved for people who knew the deceased or their family well, not some random person who rang in the morning and sent flowers by 2pm.

“I don’t know the intentions of the agent but I feel like the gesture was not genuine.

“It felt so strange and odd to me.”

Others had a stronger reaction when the daughter posted about the gesture in a Melbourne thread on online forum Reddit.

“They preyed on your vulnerable mum…. I hate these people,” one user responded.

“Real estate agents are sharks,” another said.

“This is a sales tactic. They don’t actually care.”

One person suggested it was a longtime tactic used by real estate agents: “I started working in real estate in early 2000s and my boss would trawl through the obituary section of the paper every day for leads. So gross.”

But some people suggested the flowers being sent was simply an act of kindness.

“Everyone wonders why no one is kind to strangers anymore. This is the reason. Right here,” one said.